


(I'm in Love with) My Bestfriend

by valkysrie



Category: Cloak & Dagger (Comics), Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Adults, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Jealous Tandy, Jealously, Love Confessions, Sad, Unrequited Love, Weddings, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-09 04:36:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17994968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkysrie/pseuds/valkysrie
Summary: Tandy Bowen watches as the person she's loved for as long as she can remember fall in love with someone else and she doesn't know what to do





	1. Someone You Loved

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nadiaselite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiaselite/gifts).



> This first chapter goes with this song "Someone You Loved" By Lewis Capaldi  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/2TIlqbIneP0ZY1O0EzYLlc?si=czV3sescTaiQjEOsI1oJYA

**The first time** she told him she loved him was an accident. An incredibly stupid accident that they both pretended didn’t happen after. It’s not that it wasn’t true, she loved him more than she did herself and he was honestly the most important person in her life but it was too soon and way too fast. They weren’t even dating. In fact, he was engaged to someone else and it broke her heart more than he’d ever know.

She was happy for him when he told her the news of his engagement. She cried with him even. Her tears were more for herself than him but he didn’t need to know that. He was her best friend and she was going to be there for him no matter how much it killed her. That’s why when she got the invite to his wedding handed personally from him to her, she froze. 

“Tandy? Are you alright?” His hands were on her shoulders as he chuckled. His dark eyes looking into hers and she didn’t know what to do. What was she supposed to say when it had felt like her heart filled up with water. It couldn’t breathe, _she_ couldn’t breathe. “Tandy?” 

“I love you, Ty. God, I’m in love with you.” She covered her mouth as he looked at her in shock. His eyes darting from hers with confusion. 

“You what?” He sputtered. She wished the ground would swallow her whole.

“I-I need a minute.” She stood, her heart racing a million miles per minute and her legs wobbly as she walked to the back porch. 

Tandy placed her hand on her chest, willing herself to take a deep breath. _Everything is going to be okay. He’s your person. That’s never going to change._

It was ironic how beautiful it was today, mid April, the sun brighter and bigger than ever, tiny hummingbirds flying around the treehouse her and Ty had built when they were children, and everything just seemed so perfect. 

“Is everything okay?” God, she loved him. He looked so concerned, so safe. It wasn’t fair of her to worry him. It wasn’t his fault she had loved him forever. And it wasn’t his fault he didn’t love her back. She wished he did. Perfect was an illusion. 

“Yeah.” She laughed. “Sorry, just felt claustrophobic all of the sudden.” Her voice was small, just how she felt and the world seemed so big and scary. She just wanted to escape.

“Tandy.”

“No, Ty, it’s fine. I’m okay. We don’t have to talk to about it. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She shrugged, her hair brushed against her shoulders and she figured it was time for a cut. She could do with short hair. Tyrone always said she’d look good with a bob. _Shit._

Ty sighed. She knew he didn’t believe her but she appreciated him pretending to. She couldn’t talk about this, not with him. He deserved better than her unrequited love.

He left shortly after that. He looked defeated and she felt bad. He must know she loves him in a way deeper than friendship, something that surpassed even that of a relationship. She knew it was crazy and impossible but she felt as if they were destined for each other, soulmates even. She knows, deep down, that however many lives she may have, she will always find her way to him. She will always love Tyrone Johnson.

 

**The second time** she tells him she loved him is selfish. She knows it is but he had to know. He had to know that every time he smiled at her, it felt like she was whole and belonged in this world. That every time he was near her, she felt safer than she had since her dad died. He had to know that a life without him is not a life she wanted to imagine, let alone live.

This was it. Tandy looked at herself the mirror. She looked great. Her long blue dress ran along her body like a river and she felt beautiful, knew that conventionally she was. Her hair was just below her ears and she smiled at her reflection. She could get through this day. Her best friend was getting married. This was exciting. She was happy for him.

“Goddamnit.” She spoke softly, tears running down her cheeks. It was so hard. She was playing the part as his “best man”. It was sweet of him but having a closer than front row seat to the rest of his life with someone else was quite possibly her worst nightmare. She couldn’t do this.

She had to do this.

“Are you ready?” She turned around, her mouth hanging open slightly at the sight of Ty. She had seen him in many suits but this was different. He looked beautiful. He looked breathtaking if she was being honest. “Hey, we promised no crying, Bowen.” He smirked. “Come here.” He brought her into his arms and she cried harder. She felt like she was losing him forever. She looked up at him, his face so close to hers and she wanted nothing more to do than kiss him until tomorrow. Chalk all this up to an elaborate dream. Tell him how much she loved him. 

“Can you promise me something?” Her voice so vulnerable that it scared even her.

“Anything. Always.”

“Just-” She sighed, her heart breaking a little with each syllable. “Just promise me that this won’t change us.” She stepped back from him, the proximity too much for her to bare. “Promise me you’ll always be my person?”

His expression was so open and confused, she almost felt bad for asking anything of him. 

“Yeah. Of course.” He still looked confused but brushed it off as he linked arms with her. “Let’s do this.” Right, he was getting married.

 

 

“Tyrone Johnson. Tyrone. Ty. I love you man.” Tandy slurred as she held up her glass and read from her index card. Tyrone laughed from the table he sat at with his _wife_ and she wished everything would stop spinning. “You’re my best friend and I can confidently say you’ve saved my life in more ways than one. When I lost my father, you didn’t judge me for doing all the bad shit I did. You cared for me and you let me know that it was okay to fall apart. You _loved_ me and it meant everything to me, Ty. Words cannot describe my love for you. I think our hearts beat to the same song. I know that’s cheesy and corny and all things stupid but I love you. I’m in love with you.” The room became silent and Tandy realized, finally, what she was saying and who she was saying it in front of.

Tyrone stood up from where he was sitting, a melancholy look across his face. 

“I’m so sorry. I-” Tandy stuttered, leaving the room. She vaguely heard him calling after her but she ran. She ran as far as she could, tears running down her face once again. She had cried far too many times today.

She was outside. She could breathe again but just barely. She never understood heartbreak, why it took your insides and made them unimaginable, why it took your tears and made them cold. It shouldn’t hurt this bad. _Nothing_ should hurt this bad. She knows she messed up. Ty would never forgive her. She lost her best friend. 

Tandy continued to walk, her hips swaying slightly in her intoxicated state. It started to rain slightly and she laughed. Of course it would rain. She slipped off her heals and held them in her hand. Her bare feet bruised against the pavement but she didn’t care. Nothing could hurt worse than what she was feeling inside. A mix of regret, guilt, and sadness. Every single emotion of dread. She hadn’t felt like this since her father died when she was young. She tried to remember what he’d tell her in times like this but came up blank. She couldn’t even remember his voice and that made her cry harder. Her makeup was ruined, her dress soaked, and her feet blistered. Her heart was broken. Nothing could fix this. 

She pulled out her phone, wiping the raindrops from the screen, and sighed. She knew this was a bad idea but she was running low on good ones. She dialed his number and waited.

Three rings.

“Hello?” His voice was deep and far away. It made her heart ache inside of her chest. 

“Hey, it’s Tandy.” She waited for him to respond. He didn’t. “Can you, um, can you come pick me up. If you’re not busy, of course.” She stammered out. No, this was a bad idea.

“Uh, yeah sure. Drop me your location, I’m getting in the car now.” He hung up and she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She sent him her location and waited for his beat up pick up truck. 

She looked around and noticed for the first time that she was lost. There were mainly trees and dirt roads. A few cows in the distance and a single farmhouse. She wondered how long she had been walking and if Ty went to look for her. She knows deep down he didn’t. He had a wife now. She wasn’t his top priority and it was selfish to think she ever would be again.

 


	2. I'm Tired, You're Lonely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song that goes with this chapter "I'm Tired, You're Lonely" By Liza Anne  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/5yDnsBa93xzdLjOibttAqp?si=WYMTyuJSTKah7xQa0exvDQ

Tyrone stood up and looked at his best friend in shock. Her eyes filled up with tears and she ran out of the church.

"Tandy, wait!" He screamed. Everyone was staring at him. A mix of sadness and regret filled his chest.

He looked at his wife by his side and tears filled her dark eyes. “Tyrone.” Her voice, so small and soft. There was something off about it, maybe the fact that it wasn’t Tandy’s. How could he have been so stupid. He didn’t love Evita, not in the way he should and definitely not in the way she deserved. “I understand if you wanted to go after her. I wouldn’t hold it against you.” She was holding his hand now, her soft skin melting into his and he wished, more than anything, that she was the woman he loved more than life itself. He wished he could be everything to her and her to him. 

“I won’t do that to you.” She laughed, a sad, throaty laugh, as tears sprinkled from her beautiful eyes. He had never felt worse, but was sure she was feeling it ten time more. “

“I’ll do it to myself, then. I can’t spend the rest of my life with someone who wants to spend the rest of his with someone else.” He had never seen her so sad. He wished he could reset everything, make it right somehow.

“Evita, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say or do.”

“Don’t say anything to me. Go after her, Ty.” She let go of his hand and smiled the saddest smile he had ever seen. It broke his heart a million times over. “It’s okay.” He knew she was lying. It wasn’t okay. Nothing about this was okay. “Go.” 

He kissed her cheek, his tears mixing in with hers, and told her he loved her once last time.

Once outside, he realized it had started raining. He mind went to Tandy. She was probably freezing. He wondered where she went. He cursed himself for leaving his phone inside of his dressing room but he couldn’t go back there now. Not after he had humiliated Evita in front of her family and friends. He wished he loved her in that way. He wished he loved her more than he did Tandy. It’d be easier that way. He just wanted things to be easy.

He wondered how long Tandy had been holding that in until it inevitably sprung out. He vaguely remembered her telling him she loved him when he gave her the invite to the wedding. She seemed so sad then, and so tired. He should’ve seen this coming. He should’ve known her like he had his whole life. He was always able to tell what she was thinking. Why was this time so different? His heart sank at the thought of her hiding herself from him. She had to have been doing this for months, since he announced the engagement. He should’ve known. Deep down, he thinks he did. He thinks he probably always been in love with Tandy, some part of him, all of him. Who was kidding, he had always been in love with her since they were kids. Her with her ballet slippers and him with his oversized hoodie. He always wondered why she carried those slippers around. He later found out they were the last gift her father gave her. He never asked about them again. 

Tyrone let out a deep breath when he spotted her. She was sitting on the ground, her hair stuck to her face from the rain, her shoes in her hand, and her head in her hands. She looked like heartbreak. He didn’t know how else to describe the imagine in front of him.

“Tandy?” She looked up quickly at his voice, her expression changing from sad to relieved to guilty. Her eyes were red from crying and he wanted nothing more than to hold her. Her lips blue from the rain. Her whole body was shaking and with a terrifying thought, he realized he did this to her. He hated himself for it. She didn’t say anything, just cried more. He tried to hold her but she brushed him off. His heart broke. How did everything get so messed up? “Tandy, please, just talk to me. I’m _so_ sorry.”

Her eyes widened and she scooted further from him. “What do you mean you’re sorry? You didn’t do anything. I ruined your wedding, Ty. I don’t even know where to begin?” She wrapped her arms around herself, obviously cold from the rain. He shrugged off his coat jacket and placed it around her. She gave him a half smile, her eyes welling up with tears once again. “Why are you being so nice? Why are you out here?” She stood up, her hands shaking as she pulled out her phone and sighed. “He’s going to be here soon. You should go.”

“Who?” He looked around confused. Another guilty expression over took her face.

“I called Liam.” She swallowed. 

“Tell him to turn around. I’m taking you home, Tandy. You can’t be around him like this. You’re too vulnerable.” He knew it was the right thing to say when she sighed with defeat. Liam was a good guy, maybe too good of a guy. He didn’t need to get involved in their crazy again. 

“Okay.” She breathed, her fingers moving swiftly across her screen. He smiled at her and when she smiled back he knew everything was going to be okay. They were best friends, family, nothing was going to change that.

 

They sat in silence as they waited for their ride. He called O’Riley, an old friend of theirs. He actually hadn’t seen her since the academy. He figured now was as good a time as any. The rain finally stopped but Tandy’s shaking hadn’t. He wished he could help her more. 

“You guys look like hell.” Tyrone smiled as the car pulled to a stop right in front of them. “Explain later, get in before it starts to rain again.” Ty grabbed Tandy’s hand and helped her up. She smiled a grateful smile as she slide in the front seat of the car. 

“Thank you.” Tandy spoke, her voice raspy and tired. She sounded so sad. It kept breaking his heart over and over again to see her like this.

“Yeah, of course. I was around.” They both knew it was a lie. She was never just _around_ , especially after she decided to move three towns over and a two hour drive away. He appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

They drove back to Tandy’s place. What used to be _their_ place before he moved in with Evita. He wished, desperately, that he could go back and change everything. Never reconnect with Evita after high school, never move away from Tandy, and never marry someone who wasn’t Tandy. He looked over at her in the front seat. Her head leaned against the window and she looked so tired. The drive was silent mostly, aside from the heater running and their heavy breathing. Brigid didn’t say anything or ask anymore questions and he was grateful for that. He didn’t want to explain anything. 

They finally reached the house after a long ride and all got out except their old friend. “Thanks for the ride, let's try to keep in touch, alright?” He heard Tandy say as she leaned through the window to wrap her arms around her friend. O’Riley nodded and drove off. 

“Let’s go inside before this rain gets any worse, yeah?” Tandy nodded quietly, her steps frail as she walked through the front the door. He wondered why she hadn’t locked it and if she did that often.

He hadn’t been in her house since he handed her his wedding invitation months ago. It looked pretty much the same. It was messier though. He wondered if she was eating well. When they were roommates he’d always have to cook her food or remind her to eat and having her here, alone, worried him. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” She looked at him wearily as he sat on her couch. She sat beside him and quickly wrapped a throw blanket around her body. She looked so small and safe in that moment. 

“Why did you follow me?” He shouldn’t have been surprised by the question, but he wasn’t ready for whatever questions followed. 

“It felt right.” He shrugged. “You’re my best friend.” 

Tandy rolled her eyes, shaking the blanket off of her and standing up. “Bullshit, Ty. It was your wedding. Why would you leave your _wife_ to come after your friend. It doesn’t make sense.” She paused, her eyes widening slightly and he knew that she knew. “Unless—”

“Unless, I’m in love with you.” He finished, his heart beating a million times per second. He was sure hers matched his and he knew that’s how it should always be. Their hearts beating as one. 


	3. I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> song that goes with this chapter "I Will Spend My Whole Life Loving You" by Imaginary Future & Kina Grannis  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/77enz5hl8RicxrbPB56VXQ?si=WxYMdvwbSN-rOmn-i1dQsg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much shorter than the others because I didn't want to drag the story along and I honestly don't have much time to write, so I tried to wrap everything up with a nice big bow on top. Hope you guys enjoy <3

**The third time** Tandy tells him she loves him, they’re holding hands, looking into each eyes, and she wonders how she got this lucky.

Tandy’s heart trashed wildly in her chest and she felt like she was floating. Tyrone was in love with her? Was that possible? Was it possible that the man she had been in love with since she was a child loved her just the same? She couldn’t be that lucky. And yet, she was. Here he was, sitting in front of her, his heart on the table, telling her he loved her. She was dreaming. This felt like a dream.

“You’re what?” She stuttered. She was shaking and she didn’t know how to stop it. Tandy looked at him with a mixture of awe and shock. She couldn’t have heard him right. There was no way-

“I’m in love you with, Tandy.” He rubbed his hands down his face before taking her and interlocking their fingers. Her heart skipped a beat at the contact. “I’ve been in love with you forever and I don’t know who I was kidding trying to pretend that I wasn’t. I love the way you think, you’re so smart and caring, Tandy. I love you because despite the bad in people, you try to see the good. I love you you’re unapologetically you. I’m in love with you, sorry.” He shrugged as if this was a casual conversation and she was crying. She was crying because after all these years of wondering, he couldn’t have made it more clear.

“What about Evita?” He looks disappointed at the question and sighs.

“She understood. I think she knew I never loved her that way, not the way I love you. Tandy Bowen, I will spend my whole life loving you and there’s nothing that can change that.” She sighed a sigh of relief. 

“Can I kiss you?” Her voice small and fragile, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

“For the rest of our lives.”

And she leans in. Her body reacting before her mind as their lips touch and he’s so warm, she wonders quickly if he’s running a fever. His lips mold into hers and for a moment they’re one and she wholeheartedly believed they’re soulmates. Made for one another, bound to one another forever intertwined in each others stories and there’s nothing she believes more in the world.

 

_Three Years Later_

It was a perfect day. The sun shining warmly across her cheeks, the bird singing and dancing around the treehouse they had built when they were children, and Tyrone, standing across the yard, a suit on, his hair done, and a smile brighter than anything she’s ever seen. Her white dress flows to the flow, gliding across the grass as her mother walks her down the pathway of white lilies. She looked to her right and notices Mina and O’Riley, their hands interlocked, smiling brightly, each giving her two thumbs up, and she laughs brightly. 

“Are you ready?” Her mother whispered in her ear. All she does is nod as her mom hands her off to the love of her life. He takes her hands in his and she swears her heart stops beating for a few minutes.

“You look stunning.” Is the first thing he says as he eyes rake down her body. She blushes boldly, tucking her cropped hair behind her ear. Her smile is blinding. Her heart never having been so full and she’s so happy.

They say their “I do’s” with a smile of their face and tears in their eyes. It’s the most wonderful moment of Tandy’s life and she wonders if anything will ever top this. She doubts it. It’s a perfect day and perfect isn’t an illusion. 

She looks up at Ty, he smiles down at her, and she can’t wait to spend her whole life loving him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happiest of birthdays, Harleen. I love you lots

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to one of best friends, Harleen <3 I hope you enjoy this rollercoaster of emotions. This was very difficult to write but I pushed through because it's what you deserve. p.s. hope it didn't make you too sad eek


End file.
